Railroad-brake mechanism



- 1,620,503 March 8 1927. 8 BALL RAILROAD BRAKE MECHANISM Filed July 6. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1046;; s. .fiaZZ.

March 8 1927. 1,620,508 J. 5. BALL RAILROAD BRAKE MECHANI SM Filed July 6. 1926 2 s 'ets s e 2 n'umhlmw 1.. 2/ W jaaepk .5. flail.

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Patented Mar. 8, 1927.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH S. BALL, 01 DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOSEPH N. MILLER, F DENVER, COLORADO.

RAILROAD-BRAKE MECHANISM.

Application filed July 6, 1926.

This invention relates to improvements in brakes of the type used in connection with railroad cars and street cars.

The importance of brakes is too well known to require mention and all railway cars and street cars have brakes of various kinds. The brake construction usually employed comprises a brake beam to the end of which the brake shoes are attached; this beam is suspended from the truck by means of strong links and has its center point connected with the air' devices or other means for producing a force for bringing the brake shoes into braking contact with the wheels.

" It quite frequently happens that a link which supports the brake beams, breaks and that the end of the beam then drops down onto the track and causes a wreck.

It is the object of this invention to pro duce a brake construction in which the brake levers shall be supported on a carrier in such a manner that'even if some of the parts do break, they will not fall down upon the track. It is a further object to produce a brake mechanism that shall be highly eflective and reliable in its operation.

My invention can be best described and will be most readily understood when reference is had to the accompanying draw ings and'in which the preferred embodiment thereof has been illustrated and in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan View of a railway car truck which has been equipped with my improved brake, parts having been broken away to better disclose the construction;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the truck shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the spring plank showing the same detached from the truck and showing the brake beams and levers in place; 7

Fig. 4: is a section, to an enlarged scale, taken on line 4.4;, Fig. 3 and shows some of the details of construction;

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 55, Fig. 8, and is also shown to an enlarged scale; 1

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 6-6, Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of an end portion or the spring plank showing a slight modification of the construction; and

Fig. 8 is a section taken on line 88, Fig. 7.

- On thedrawings I have illustrated my in- Serial No. 120,610.

vention in connection with an ordinary railroad car truck. In the several figures numeral 1 indicates the cast steel side frames of the truck, each of which is provided with journal boxes 2 for the reception of the ends of the axles 3. Secured to each axle are two Wheels 4 of ordinary and well known construction. A cast steel truck bolster 5 extends from one of the side frame members to the other. The ends of said bolster extend through openings 6 in the side frame members and rest upon coil springs 7 whose lower ends are supported on the ends 8 of the spring plank 9. The spring plank is provided with upwardly extending flanges 10 which gives it a cross section resembling that of an ordinary channel iron. The brake levers and mechanism which are employed in the operation of the brakes are supported on the spring plank in the manner shown in Figures 1 to 6, to which reference will now be had.

Each of the flanges 10 have a rectangular opening 11 near each end. The corner of the flanges has been cut away so as to form a notch for the reception of the removable piece 12, which is provided with downwardly extending lugs 13 that project over the sides of the flange and are secured to the latter by means of bolts 14:, in the man-- ner shown most clearly in Figure 6. Rectangular bars 15 extend outwardly through the openings 11 and to the outer ends of these bars the brake shoes 16 are connected. Secured to the bottom of the spring plank directly inside of the flanges 10 are springs 17,-which are preferably formed of two parts, one of which engages the top of the bar 15 and the other the bottom side of the bar in the manner shown in Figure 4:. The object of these springs is to steady the brake bar 15 and to prevent rattling. Referring now to Figure 2, it will be noted that the brake shoes 16 are normally located in close proximity to the peripheral surface of the car wheels 4, but are out of contact with. the latter except when it is desired to exert a braking action. It is evident that if the brake shoes 16 are forced away from each other and towards the wheels, that they will soon come into contact with the wheels and produce friction tending to stop'the rotationof the wheels.

For the purpose of moving the bars 15 so as to apply the brake shoes to the wheels and to remove them tronnt-he :wheels, the following mechanism has been provided. Cross bars 18 are secured to the flanges nearaeach end of -the. spring plank. These bars are held in place by means of bolts19. Bars 20 and 21 have one end each pivoted to the adjacent ends of the brake bars by means of a pivot pin 22. These bars are provided near their ends --with elongated openings 23 which serve to receive the pivot pins 24L that pass downwardly through the barslSand through the-bottom of the spring plankin the manner shown in Figures 5, and 8. The pins 2e serve as fulcrums forthe levers and 21. The levers 21 are provided -;nea-r-the1r inner ends with a; notch 25 which servesto receive the inner end of the lever '20. .A-p1 n 26 extends through the two parts ofthe bar 2l-andthrough an opening in the inner end of the bars20 in themanner shown -i-n Figure' l. The levers 21 extend inwardly beyo'nd 1 the notch 25 andv are provided at their extreme inner ends :with openings for the receptionot'pivot pins 27 hymeans of which the links 28 are secured in place. At a pointkhal-f waybetween the transverse'bars 18j-isa similar bar 29 that extends across the topofthe spring plank and is secured to the latter by means of holts30. A lever 31 is pivoted toethe underside of the bar 29 by -means of 21:,b0lt32. This lever extends. un-

equal distances to each 'siderofthe pivot .pin '32 in-the mannerclearly shown in Figure 3. Atpomts 33' whiclrare spaced equidistantly from the center pin 32, the links 28 are connected'to the lever. It is now evident that if and when 'thelever 31 is oscillated about its pivot'32 it will'cause the levers 21 to rock about their pivots 2,4;and since the levers'20 are-pivoted to; the levers'21 at points 26, they will also rock about their pivots 24:. If the lever 31 is moved downwardly (Figure 3) against the tension of the spring 34, the

brake-bars 15 will he moved. outwardly in such a-manner as to force the brake shoes 16 against the wheels. For the purpose of mov 'ing the levers a connecting rod 35 has fheen pivoted to'the longerend of thelever 31 at "36. The other end of this connecting rod is pivoted to the central point 3? of the vertical lever 38 thatjis pivotedatflits lower end at 39 to the bracket A10. A;rod 41, is pivoted tothe upper end of lever 38 and connects the latter with the a r brake equ pment or v ith' -the hand wheel mechanism by meansot whichthebraliesare usually operated. .Tt is evident that if the' rod 1-1 is-lnoved {downwardly 'Fi z ure3) so as to tension thespring 34 that'thednake-shoe will-be moved against the Wheels in the manner above indicated.

"cmce'there-is one-wheel on each sic-e otthe sprmg plank, the torce -a} )1')lied1tothe Wheels w ll have no tendency to move-the spring pla k sideways as the torces'wi-ll "be vsulonti'a l ly balanced,

The force should be appliedato "the 'wheels in a substantially-radial direction or-i-n other words, the centers of the brake bars 15 should ,be on a level with lthe-centers oithe wheels. fi l-lore are some makes of trucks, however, in which the truck bolster comes fartheridovvnxthan on some others and this makes it necessary to lower the spring plank sotasto obtain-room for the various levers that are employed for operating the brake shoes. In these cases theends 8 ofthespring planks may' be offset upwardlydntheananner indicated inPFigure8. In order to compensate for this offset arra-ngement,'the-openingsll are raised somewhat and are located a greater distance from the upper 'su-rliace of the spring plank. This makes it necessary to give the ends of thelever 20 an'd'21 anupward bend in the" manner shown in 1 igure -8.

ln' Figurel', I'ha-ve-shown ajspring plank 'inv 'hichflthe end 8 is narrower than the-one shown i-n lTig-u-re 3. The embodiment shown in Figure? is intended-for use oil-trucks where the wheels come'closertogether-than on the ordinary truck andthis -makes it'necessary to otfsetthe ends of the levers 20 and 21 so as-tolbring the-pivot points 22nearer I have provided a brake inechan-ismthat is of exceedingly simple construction and which is very ell'ective lIl fits operatlon. The variousllevers and links are located on top ofthe spring plank so that if jthere should be a breakage of any (it-the parts,

they could not fall "down onto the "track so as to be-the cause of wrecks or serious injury to the car. As it{is my inten'tion to employ, ;as a base for the frame 'Work, *the ordinary spring plank, it is evident-thatthis brake construction canhe-rapplied toe'xisting cars withoutmaking a material change inthe trucks.

It will be noticed that I have provided several sets-of 'holes'28 inithe'levers 20 and 21 and that these holes are elongated. 'By means ofthis arrangement the ratio of the lever arms can be changed so as to vary'the braking effect obtained by the application of any given force.

Having now described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. A brake mechanism ada'ptedto be attached to a railway car truck, comprisnrq,

in con'ibination, a spring-plank havinga flat central portion and parallel spaced flanges extending perpendicularly to the plane of the central pOrt1on,-each flange'having an opening near each end, a brake loar extendingthrough each opening, a lever having-its outer end pivotally connected With the inner end of each 'bra-ke dear, a stationary pivot which serves as a fulcrumfor each lever and means for simultaneously moving said levers about their fulcrums whereby the brake bars Will be reciprocated in the openings.

2. A brake mechanism adapted to be attached to a railway car truck, comprising, in combination, a flat spring plank whose sides extend at right angles to the plane of the body portion thereof so as to form parallel flanges, each end of each of said flanges having an opening, a brake bar slidably mounted in each opening, a pivot pin located near each brake bar, a lever pivoted on each pin and having its end pivoted to the end of the adjacent brake bar and means for simultaneously moving said levers about their respective pivots whereby the brake bars will be simultaneously reciprocated in the openings.

3. A brake mechanism adapted to be attached to a railway car truck, comprising, in combination, a flat spring plank whose sides extend at right angles to the plane of the body portion thereof so as to form parallel flanges, each end of each of said flanges having an opening, a brake bar slidably mounted in each opening, a pivot pin located near each brake bar at a point between the bars and near the flanges, a pair of inter-- connected levers pivoted to the two brake bars and pivot pins associated with each flange and means for simultaneously oscillating all of said levers an equal amount about their pivots whereby the brake bars will be reciprocated in the openings for the purpose of setting and releasing the brakes.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

JOSEPH S. BALL. 

